Theo didn't move, but looked back at the men squabbling over nothing. He mourned their pitiful image; the world had truly been inherited by cowards. This, however, only bolstered his resolve to confront this devil behind the storm, because that was Theo's self-imposed responsibility as a man of real action. For now, however, he neeed rest, as the fainting had made him weak and dizzy. He found his way to where mothers and father were wrapping the children and the injured in cheap woolen blankets and took a blanket for himself. He shuffled to the quietest nook he could find and wrapped himself up. It would normally be his time to sleep anyway. Or would it? The sun's gone, and with it went the sense of time.

Enoch

Posts : 49Join date : 2012-03-27

Subject: Re: Dark Ocean (con't) Tue Apr 28, 2015 5:13 pm

As what would be measured days went by, while the storm slowly receded, the darkness did not. The ominous wall remained a few miles off shore, blocking out the sun. The Dark put Bellevue into a strange stasis, where time no longer meant anything to the island folk. People and animals slept and awoke at random, and ships no longer came to visit the island for trade. Theo's mind and soul were not the only ones the terrible entity touched; somehow, everyone on the island was afflicted with odd visions and a sense of doom. The Dark was not going away any time soon.

While the leaders of Bellevue argued over which course of action to take, Captain Theodore Casey was preparing for an expedition. The man had accumulated a fair amount of wealth for his services to the island, and while most of it was originally going to disperse amongst his two ungrateful sons somewhere on the mainland, he now had a reason to spend it. Rope, preserved meats and grains, cannon ammunition, tools for structural ship maintenance. Captain Theo was gathering every resource he could get his hands on to sail into the Dark.

The most difficult to gain of these resources was crew members. Understandably, not many were terribly eager to sail into the wall of plausible death just off Bellevue's coast. As much as Theo would benefit from a crew, he could not requisition a single hand for his ship.

However, Theo was not to be deterred; with or without help, he would sail. Several sleeps and awakenings after the Dark first came, Theo had loads of supplies being stowed on the ship by deckhands who would take his coin to at least carry cargo for the old coot. His ship, Ghost, was a small steamship which was named for its ability to cut engines at short notice and drift silently in the night or in fog. As several men loaded crates into Ghost's cargo hold, Theo couldn't help but imagine that this was the last time he or Ghost would see shore.

Enoch

Posts : 49Join date : 2012-03-27

Subject: Re: Dark Ocean (con't) Tue Apr 28, 2015 5:31 pm

The stowing was complete and Ghost was ready to launch. Theo hadn't a seeing-off party or anyone to watch him go, but he preferred it that way; he'd never gotten used to the attention his renown brought him anyway.

Just before Theo went to board his ship, he heard a man's voice call out his name.

"Theo!" Theo turned about to see Dr. Lisbon jaunting toward him.

Theo bore an expression of genuine surprise. "Here to see me off, Lisbon?" he said, voicing his only guess as to their endeavor.

"Hardly." he retorted. "I've come to pledge my service."

"Cockamamie! You've come to mock me, I'm sure."

"You've mistaken me, captain." he said, not so snidely this time. "I've done what I can for this island, and as I continue to remain here I grow unbearably restless." Lisbon sounded uncharacteristically earnest. "I'd heard you were setting sail into the Dark. Most people just shake their heads but... well..."

"Spit it out, son." said Theo, still expecting a ruse.

Lisbon scowled, but his sincerity remained apparent, "I've always believed in you, Theo." he winced, as though it hurt his pride to say it. "That night the storm came... something stirred in me. Something out there is calling for me to face it head on. I don't know if the others feel it, but when I heard you were setting sail, I knew you felt it too." Lisbon was breathy, adrenaline causing him to gasp, "I know you're a stubborn ox, Theo, but the magistrate and his men are fools. Since I was a boy I'd always seen you an only you rise to the occasion when something disastrous happened, and you always survived to tell the tale. And now, now at our darkest hour you STILL choose to take the wheel, laugh in death's face, whatever you wish to call it. I know you feel it calling you too..." his face was turning red at this point. "And for Christ's sake man, I'm not letting your ornery old arse go out there by yourself!"

Enoch

Posts : 49Join date : 2012-03-27

Subject: Re: Dark Ocean (con't) Sun May 03, 2015 4:45 pm

Theo couldn't help a grin as he shook his head, letting Lisbon to fluster himself. Without a word, the old captain nodded his head toward his ship, gesturing for Lisbon to board. Theo may not have had a crew, but he was heavily thankful for doubling the hands he had on deck.

Ghost was finished being stocked, and the two sailors, old and new, prepared to embark into the unknown. Anyone else could conjecture that they would die immediately upon entering the Dark, or perhaps soon after, but something in the sailors' hearts told them otherwise. Something was waiting on the other side of the Dark, and the few men whose metal was sufficient to answer the call were on that ship, sailing directly into their fate.

Enoch

Posts : 49Join date : 2012-03-27

Subject: Re: Dark Ocean (con't) Sun May 03, 2015 4:47 pm

"The sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness"

-Joseph Conrad

Enoch

Posts : 49Join date : 2012-03-27

Subject: Re: Dark Ocean (con't) Sun May 03, 2015 5:47 pm

The dynamic duo set sail, and a small party of curious onlookers gathered to watch the Dark swallow up Ghost's bow light. The wall of Dark grew ever more ominous as the Ghost approached, utterly dwarfing the vessel. Theo wore an expression of steel, but in his childish heart, the Dark only served to stoke a mighty flame. On the eve of a helpless descent into old age, a crisis came to Bellevue and gave Theo hope. One last adventure, one last sense of mighty purpose.

Ghost teetered ever closer to the Dark, so close that the sailors could swear they could smell it. Theo and Lisbon exchanged a long and stern look, and though wordless, they both knew what the other was thinking: The point of no return. The bow light sunk into the Dark, and the Dark wrapped horrid tendrils around it, accepting the lamp, embracing its arrival, and soon it would be Theo's turn. As captain of the ship, he silently insisted on going first.

His body first touched the Dark, and at first it welcomed him as it welcomed the bow of his ship. Smooth black tendrils, cool to the touch, reached out and wrapped themselves around Theo's arm. He did not resist. More came and lathered themselves about his chest, slithered into his nostrils. Still he did not resist. He only looked toward Lisbon, whose fear he could smell. And as black tentacles tunneled his vision, Lisbon's pale face then disappeared, and all Theo could see, feel, was Dark.